Hanover loses carpenters lawsuit, awaits the bill

Town officials are waiting to find out how much the Supreme Judicial Court decision will cost local taxpayers.

Patriot Ledger staff

Hanover officials are waiting to find out how much the town’s loss of a court case will cost local taxpayers.

Thursday’s decision by the Supreme Judicial Court ruled in favor of the New England Regional Council of Carpenters, which was defending a lawsuit filed by Hanover that stemmed from legal disputes over the 2009 bidding process for the construction of the new high school.

Town Manager Troy Clarkson said Friday that the ruling was disappointing, but he wasn’t sure how much the town will have to pay to cover legal costs incurred by the carpenters’ union.

In 2009, after Hanover awarded the contract for the high school construction to the lowest bidder, Callahan Inc., a subcontractor complained to the state attorney general’s office.

State attorneys investigated and found that the contractor “had engaged in fraud during the prequalification stages of the bidding process,” the SJC ruling said.

Ten Hanover residents who were backed by the New England Regional Council of Carpenters sued, alleging that Callahan Inc. misled the building committee about its public-school construction experience when it bid for the contract.

They also wanted to rescind the contract that the town had signed with Callahan, but Hanover officials stayed with their contractor, an action later sanctioned by the state supreme court.

In the fall of 2011, Hanover sued the carpenters union, alleging that the union’s 2009 litigation was “an abuse of process,” the SJC said.

Reacting to Thursday’s decision by Supreme Judicial Court to dismiss Hanover’s lawsuit, the head of the carpenters union said Hanover officials wasted the town’s money in pursuing the case.

‘‘The Town ignored serious flaws in the bidding process, defended a contractor they should have been dismissing, and then tried to retaliate after citizens exercised their constitutional rights to challenge the Town’s actions,’’ Mark Erlich, the executive secretary of the New England Regional Council of Carpenters, said in a prepared statement. ‘‘And now, the Town will not only have its own legal bills to pay, but it will have to pay the Carpenters Union’s legal expenses as well.’’

Christopher Burrell may be reached at cburrell@ledger.com or follow on Twitter @Burrell_Ledger.